In the games

Maylene uses Fighting-type Pokémon in her battles. Trainers who defeat her receive the Cobble Badge, TM60 (Drain Punch), and are able to use Fly outside of battle. In addition, all Pokémon up to level 40 will obey their Trainer. Maylene is considered a cute little girl, but adults in the town respect her for her power. Maylene's father gambles at the Veilstone Game Corner. Maylene apparently does not know her own strength, as she is unsure of how she got to be Gym Leader, and seems rather confused by the whole thing.

Later in Platinum, the player encounters her upon entering Route 217 where she is apparently training by walking to Snowpoint City. She does not use Fly—even if she can—so she can train herself. She is also used to the cold, even if she is lightly dressed and barefoot. In Snowpoint's Pokémon Center, she says that she admires Candice for being so studious and that she will see her later. In the post-game, she can appear at the Battleground, where she and the other Sinnoh Gym Leaders and Trainers can be battled again. After battling her here, she mentions that she believes that being barefoot is healthier than wearing footwear, pointing out that Pokémon go barefoot.

Maylene seems to like to eat a lot, saying how it is so great that she can eat all she wants in both the Battleground and Celadon City's restaurant, and is apparently able to eat many bowls in one sitting.

Quotes

"Hello. I'm pleased to meet you. I'm Maylene, and I'm the Gym Leader. I don't really know what it means to be strong, or how I got to be the Gym Leader. But I will do the best I can as the Gym Leader. I take battling very seriously. Whenever you're ready!"

After sending out last Pokémon

"Oh! But this isn't the end, my friend!"

During battle

"I'm in a bit of a bind, aren't I?"

When defeated

"I shall admit defeat... You are much too strong."

After being defeated

"...OK. You win. That was a tough loss. I learned a lot from it. Please, accept this Gym Badge."

"Gee, I'm hungry... Oh, sorry, it's nothing. I didn't say anything. <Player>, I can't explain what it means to be strong. I don't know how much effort goes into being strong... But being with Pokémon lets us keep making the effort, doesn't it?"

"Oh, <player>! Um, are you maybe on your way to Snowpoint City? That's where I'm going, too. If I use Fly, I can get there instantly, but I'm walking for my training. I have no problem with this. I'm used to the cold because I go barefoot and lightly dressed. ...Achoo! Oh, that was nothing. Really, I'm not cold at all. I'll be going now. Please take care!"

"Brrr... Oh, hi, <player>! Are you taking the Gym challenge now? I'm hoping to see Candice soon, but I'm staying put until I warm up again first. Oh, you should know that Candice is a user of Ice-type Pokémon. I really admire Candice. She's so studious. She wanted to practice against me to learn about the Fighting type. It's because the Ice type matches up badly against the Fighting type."

"Munch munch munch... The eatathon contest! I never dreamed of such a wonderful thing. After a strict diet of training, I can eat like a Hippowdon. The winner eats for free, too. That's just a dream come true!"

In the anime

Prior to the events of the episode Maylene had been challenged by Paul, who brought Pokémon to the Gym that had type-advantages over hers. Worse than that, Maylene felt out of sync with her Pokémon and a result she suffered an embarrassing defeat, not even managing to knock out a single one of Paul's Pokémon. Afterwards, when she gave him the Cobble Badge, he noted how weak she was. As a result Maylene had lost confidence in herself as a Gym Leader, a position she's only held for six months. This, combined with how badly the previous battle went, caused her Lucario and the majority of her Gym assistants to lose faith in her. When Ash challenged her, she declined, much to the annoyance of Lucario.

She was challenged by Ash next in A Triple Fighting Chance!, an even harder-fought battle which resulted in a tie. With the decision now hers, Maylene considered Ash to have battled well enough that she awarded him the Cobble Badge.

Pokémon

Lucario first appeared alongside Maylene training during Lost Leader Strategy! where it was unhappy with Maylene due to her depression from losing against Paul and, as a result, their bond was extremely strained. However, after defeating Dawn's Ambipom and Piplup, Lucario and Maylene were soon back in sync with each other which helped it to defeat Staravia and Chimchar and force Ash's Buizel to a draw during the Gym battle against Ash.

Its first full appearance was during Maylene's Gym battle against Dawn in Crossing the Battle Line!. Unlike the battle against Paul, in this battle Meditite was used to its full potential, being able to defeat Buneary before being knocked out by Ambipom's Double Hit.

It was next used in the Gym battle against Ash, where it was able to confuse both Staravia and Chimchar but was unable to defeat them. It eventually fell to Staravia's newly learned Brave Bird.

Machoke first appeared in Lost Leader Strategy! during the flashback of Maylene's Gym battle against Paul. It was called upon second to battle Honchkrow but it was quickly knocked out by Sky Attack. It was not used during the Gym battle against Dawn.

It was the first Pokémon used by Maylene during her Gym battle against Ash, where it put up a strong defense against his Staravia despite the type disadvantage. Despite this however Machoke was still defeated by the Starling Pokémon's combination of Quick Attack and Aerial Ace.

In the manga

Maylene is first seen training with her two Pokémon, Meditite and Riolu where she overhears a trio of children planning to challenge her Gym. While jogging around the city she almost gets hit by Chimler's Ember (when the trio was testing Platinum's newly-earned Zoom Lens). Due to a misunderstanding she assumes that Platinum was one of the kids who planned to challenge her, she then challenges Platinum to a match, adding that Platinum must use Monferno against her. She later battles Platinum in the Veilstone Gym, but is defeated when Platinum uses her skills at playing the slots to help Monferno defeat her Riolu.

She later appears in Snowpoint City, jogging in the cold where Platinum spots her and asks her to take her to the Snowpoint Gym Leader, Candice. She watches the Gym battle between Candice and Platinum and later, along with Candice, joins Platinum on her quest to stop Team Galactic from blowing up Lake Acuity and capturing the legendary Uxie. Later, at Lake Acuity they are confronted by Team Galactic Commander, Jupiter and despite putting up a good fight, are defeated by her powerful Pokémon and are unable to prevent Uxie from being captured. After being healed they decided to get some training in order to defeat her, Candice calls fellow Gym Leader Byron who then calls and asks Volkner to train them. After some difficulty with their new tutor, they finish their training with him and later at the Spear Pillar, she and Candice fight and defeat Jupiter along with the other Galactic Commanders. She and the other Gym Leaders later fight Team Galactic Leader Cyrus in order to break the Red Chain controlling the legendary Dialga and Palkia and after a tough battle, they are able to break the Chain. However, it turns out the one they broke was the second artificial one that he created.

Later, the Gym Leaders are found unconscious lying in a pile of rubble by Platinum and Cynthia. After helping them out, Maylene, Candice, and Gardenia wake up and give Platinum a Pachirisu, a Froslass, and a Cherrim, respectively. Just after, a stray attack fired from the battle between Diamond and Pearl against Dialga and Palkia knocks them unconscious and melts the Poké Balls, preventing Platinum from using her newly gained team members. Later, when the clash between Dialga and Palkia creates a black hole in the sky, Maylene and the other Gym Leaders are nearly sucked into it before being saved by Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum. After Cyrus's defeat, Maylene, the other Gym Leaders, and Cyrus are carried by the Sinnoh Pokédex holders so they can be taken to the hospital to heal their injuries.

It is heavily implied that due to her father's gambling habit, Maylene is actually living in poverty as seen when she is jealous of Platinum's wealth and the fact that her father wears shabby clothing along with that every time he appears, his stomach is seen growling. This was revealed to be a fact when she gave Platinum her Pachirisu.

Pokémon

This listing is for Maylene's Pokémon in the Pokémon Adventures manga.

Riolu ♂

Riolu is Maylene's strongest Pokémon and her main battler. She uses it in her battle against Platinum and manages to defeat her Chatot but is defeated by Platinum applying her Slots skills to her Monferno. It was later used in her first battle against Jupiter but was eventually defeated by her powerful Pokémon. It was used against the Galactic Commander one last time where it defeated her Tangrowth with an Aura Sphere and Ice Shard combination with Candice's Abomasnow.

Meditite is one of Maylene's strongest fighters. It was used in her Gym battle against Platinum but was defeated by her Chatot's Mirror Move. It was later used against Jupiter at the Acuity Lakefront but was defeated by her powerful Pokémon. It was later used against the Galactic Commander once again and later to break the Red Chain on the Spear Pillar.

Maylene has a brief cameo in Dialga's Secret Keys!! where she battled Hareta and gave him the Cobble Badge after her Machoke got defeated by Piplup. At the end of the chapter, she is seen complaining about only appearing in one panel. Later, she was called in by Byron to go to Lake Valor in order to help Hareta take out Team Galactic.

In the Pocket Monsters DP manga

In the TCG

Maylene's PokémonCards listed with a blue background are only legal to use in the current Expanded format.Cards listed with a silver background are legal to use in both the current Standard and Expanded formats.

With the release of Pokémon Platinum, the order of three Gym battles in Pokémon Diamond and Pearl are now shifted: instead of being third, Maylene is now fourth in the line-up.

She is also the only Gym Leader in Sinnoh to have more Pokémon of the opposite gender than of the same gender as her; in the Veilstone Gym, two out of her three Pokémon are male, while at the Battleground, three out of five are.

Maylene is currently the only known Fighting-type specialist who is female.

Of all of the Trainers that can be fought at the Battleground, Maylene has the strongest Pokémon of any of them. Her Lucario, at level 66, is one level stronger than the rest of the Trainers' strongest Pokémon, as all of the rest are at Lv. 65.

However Maylene compensates for this, since her strongest Pokémon doesn't hold a Sitrus Berry unlike the other trainers at the Battleground.

This is most likely due to the fact that the player can choose to visit Veilstone or Pastoria simultaneously without affecting the progression of the storyline, meaning Wake and Maylene could be battled in either order.